Robin Roberts, Tiger Woods and Good Morning America: A Black Athletic Thing

I wasn't quite sure what to expect with the recent interview between Tiger Woods and Robin Roberts of ABC's 'Good Morning America.' I have a great deal of respect for both Woods and Roberts, but as with most Americans, I'm never quite sure what to expect next out of Tiger Woods. The man who was a consistent beacon of greatness seems to be determined to become a tired, old man right in front of our eyes.

During his other interviews, I've always wondered if Tiger used a Barack Obama-like carefulness to ensure that he never appeared "too black" at one time. America has a nasty way of judging black athletes and black men, in general, so the corporate and political strategy is always one that is polluted by an uncomfortable racial fickleness. Athletes end up saying things that make them sound weak and dumb, or apologizing when they did nothing wrong. It's actually quite humiliating.

I'll admit that I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw from both Tiger and Roberts during the interview. Not only was the black athlete being interviewed by a black host, but they also featured a group of kids from the Tiger Woods Foundation, all of whom appeared to be African American. There was no awkward window dressing, throwing in a white or Asian kid for every other black kid or desire to make Tiger appear to be "post-racial." The interview was just a bunch of happy black people talking about golf.

This is not to say that having a non-black person in the interview would have tainted the experience. It's just to say that it's rare that a man with such a mixed public brand and persona would not go out of his way to continue groveling to a country that has yet to forgive him for being a sex addict. Whether it's calling for the death penalty during Michael Vick's dog-fighting trial or suggesting that Terrell Owens gets psychiatric help, America loves to define the black male athlete as a dysfunctional, unethical sociopathic menace to society. Tiger and Roberts were as cool as two cucumbers in the freezer section, talking sports, fatherhood and laughing their way to a great interview. I loved it.

During the conversation, Tiger talked about the joys of fatherhood. He also did a good job of promoting his new video game, "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters." The game has a neat way of allowing you to actually pretend to play golf by swinging the joy stick. Obviously, Tiger's video game sales took a significant hit after the controversy with his wife, and his brand has yet to recover completely.

Finally, Robin went into the least comfortable part of the interview, where she mentioned the fact that this is the first year since he was 11 years old that Tiger has gone the entire season without a single win. The man who once exceeded the greatness of both Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan has been reduced to a laughingstock for the haters who once couldn't stand him. He is no longer the number-one ranked golfer in the world, which is a position he held for nearly a decade.

Tiger has won 14 majors, just four less than the "untouchable" record of 18 majors held by the great Jack Nicklaus. Some wonder if Tiger can ever get it together and make another charge at the record. I personally believe that he can do it, but for some reason, I'm starting to doubt it.

Great achievements sometime require an internal hunger that can never be satisfied. For example, Michael Jordan never had enough championship rings because he always seemed to feel that no matter how great he became, he was still never good enough. His Hall of Fame speech was a great example of this fact, where he spent the entire time degrading the men he'd played with for years. Jordan's extreme arrogance and narcissism appeared, to some, as a flawed effort to hide a set of deep-seated insecurities.

When Tiger first started playing golf, he was the hungriest beast known to man. He didn't want you to win anything, and he didn't want you to even think that you could compete with him. If you had one win to his 10, he'd murder you to take the one victory you had. He was also anxious to position himself among the gods of golf, something he'd dreamed about for years.

Since that time, money, women and the trappings of fame seem to have stolen Tiger's edge. He's not a young, angry warrior who desires constant domination over his surroundings but, instead, has become an old, reflective, rich guy with bags under his eyes. I hope that I'm wrong about Tiger, for nothing gave me more inspiration than watching another black male dominate the country clubs that would never have allowed his father to become a member. Seeing Woods fall to the wayside broke my heart -- the way I felt while watching Muhammad Ali take a beating from Larry Holmes back in 1980. We all want to believe that the great ones will remain on top, but the cost of being a world beater can sometimes be too high. Even if he never wins another tournament, Tiger Woods will always be a legend, and we must all forgive him for suddenly becoming human.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here. To follow Dr. Boyce on Facebook, please click here.